Farmers barred to cultivate paddy/sugarcane

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Monsoon this year has been abundant this year and has already surpassed the average. But in the same country, the southern peninsula is struggling with its draught like situations. For the second time in the state of Karnataka, the government has strictly asked farmers to desist from cultivating their main commercial crops, paddy and sugarcane, as they need huge quantum of water. The govt. has decided to release water from the four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin from Thursday for filling tanks for drinking purpose.

At a meeting of the elected representatives from the Cauvery basin the decision was taken. Water will be released from the Krishna Raja Sagara, the Hemavati, the Harangi and the Kabini reservoirs to help increase groundwater level after concerns that the level had receded to a depth of over 1,000 feet. This would help ensure availability of drinking water.The CM,Mr. Siddaramaiah said the decision had to be taken in the wake of dire shortage of water due to a weak monsoon.

However, Farmers are free to cultivate rain-fed crops. The criticality of the situation can be understood by the data that the total storage in all the four Cauvery basin reservoirs is just 45 tmcft now as against 53.52 tmcft during the corresponding period in the previous year. The situation has been described as the worst in the last 46 years. According to the CM, cloud seeding would also be taken up from next week.